Cross Street, Hove

Judy Middleton (2001 revised 2022)

In the early years the street was notable for the number of men living there who were connected with the brick-making industry. For instance, in 1841 there were Thomas Martin, 45, William Jenner, 25, Thomas Baxter, 61 and James Clayton who were all brick-makers while William Lock, 30, was a brick-layer. In 1851 brick-maker Edward Wyld, 35,lived at number 2 and brick-maker James Private, 24, lived at number 5; Timothy Minal, brick-layer’s labourer, lived at number 6; Peter (?Coalles) and Thomas Turner, both brick-layers, lived at number 7; Alfred Strange, bricklayer’s labourer, lived at number 8; George Carpenter, brick-layer, lived at number 16 and John Shearing, labourer in a brick-yard, lived at number 21.

In 1861 the following men were brick-layers, George Carpenter, 48, at number 4; James Turner, 61, at number 6; Charles Goble, 58, at number 7; Alfred Jordan, 54, at number 8 and Edward Virgo, 61, at number 12. 

Copyright © J.Middleton
 Cross Street 

The 1841 census also carried the interesting information that two women earned their living as chairwomen. Did it really mean they pushed or pulled invalid carriages or bath chairs along the seafront or did it mean they hired them out?
 

Henry Porter states that the unfortunate Celia Holloway had lodgings in Cross Street but there is no mention of this in Rupert Taylor’s Murders of Old Sussex. He says she lodged at 4 Cavendish Place, Brighton. According to Porter it was from her lodgings in Cross Street that Celia was enticed away in 1831 by her husband to visit his lodgings in Donkey Row, Brighton, where he killed her. He dismembered her body, the head was put in a cupboard under the stairs in Donkey Row, the trunk was discovered in Lover’s Walk, Preston and her limbs were dumped in a cesspool. Holloway had been forced to marry Celia after seducing her and making her pregnant but he soon found a new girlfriend who was pretty whereas poor Celia was only 4 feet 3 inches in height with a large head and long arms. Holloway was found guilty of her murder and hanged.

Copyright © Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove
Engraving by J Parez, 1831. Shows John Holloway and his lover, Anne Kennett, outside of the Hare and Hounds pub. They are on the way to Lover's Walk to dispose of Holloway's wife, Celia, who was murdered by her husband. 
The crime is popular know as Brighton's first trunk murder.

John Richard Penderell lived at 21 Cross Street, the home of Owen Funnell, a house decorator. Penderell died there aged 80 in September 1883. He had been Viscount Gage’s butler at Firle Place and he later worked at Stanmer for the Countess of Chichester. He was a descendent of Trusty Dick Penderell who helped to conceal King Charles II in the famous Boscobel Oak after his defeat at the battle of Worcester in 1651.

Number 14 – William H. Caddy ran his business on the premises where his trade was as a wood-carver. He also taught the subject to students at the Hove Technical Institute, and it is recorded that in October 1893 he received £1-17-1d for woodcarving materials and clay modelling, while in December 1893 he was paid £18 for lessons on these skills. Some commissions we know about are as follows.

In around 1912 Caddy carved a reading desk out of solid oak for the use of the headmaster of the Brighton, Hove and Sussex Grammar School, which was installed in the new premises at Dyke Road. Caddy also made the wooden trestle tables and benches used at Hove College, as well as the memorial to the fallen of the First World War, which used to hang proudly in the hall, but unfortunately nobody seems to know what became of it.

Later on, the family moved to 41 Waterloo Street. His wife was called Catherine, and it is sad to record that their son died in the First World War. He was Bombardier Hubert Mallet Caddy, Royal Field Artillery, and he was killed during the 3^rd Battle of Ypres on 16 November 1917.

Coachman’s Arms

In 1848 John Clayton, brick-maker, lived at number 22. Then in 1867 J Lewry, beer retailer, occupied the premises and he stayed until 1880. It did not become known as the Coachman’s Arms until 1881, the same year in which G Brown took over. But he only stayed until 1885. 

From 1886 to 1898 the Directories record that E Prevett was in charge. However, the 1891 census makes clear this was a not a man but Sussex-born spinster Emily Prevett aged 42 and she lived with her 17-year old servant Emily Stanford, a 41-year old groom, coachman John Henry Keeps plus three boarders, a footman, a greengrocer and a jobbing labourer. In 1891 E Funnell produced plans on behalf of brewers Ashby & Co for alterations to the pub. In 1900 Ernest Foord was noted as the beer retailer but after that year the pub or beer shop was not mentioned again and by 1905 number 22 had become dining rooms.

There was another beer retailer in Cross Street for a while and a woman also ran it. This beer house was located at number 15 and widow Janet Troubridge, 59, was in charge. She lived on the premises with her daughters Isobel Janet, 32, Ethel Mary Jane, 29, and Fanny Maria, the latter two being dressmakers.

Napoleon III

This was the name of a pub located at 15 Cross Street. Despite its regal name, the establishment started out as an ordinary beer shop, which it remained from 1860 to 1888. But in the following year it became the Napoleon III, being named after Charles Louis Napoleon Bonaparte (1808-1873) the third son of Louis Bonaparte, King of Holland. Napoleon III was Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870, and his wife was the influential Empress Eugenie. But after the fall of the Second Empire, the couple were obliged to seek refuge abroad.

The pub was run by the Troubridge family; firstly by Mr M. Troubridge, and in 1886 by Mrs Janet Troubridge who remained in charge until 1910. Henry Rose was the landlord from 1911 to 1915, followed for a brief spell by J. F. Glover, but by 1917 J. F. Diplock was behind the bar. During the 1920s F. T. Lucas was the landlord for a couple of years, followed in 1923 by Alfred E. West who was the last man to run the pub.

George Walter Willett of the Rock Brewery owned the pub, and when he died in 1901 he left it, together with many other pubs in Brighton and elsewhere, to his son Walter Theyre Willett. Then it was owned by Vallance & Catt until 1929 when Tamplin’s took over. In 1931 Tamplin’s decided to close the pub down, and by 1933 the premises were a fried fish shop.

Copyright © J.Middleton 2012
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